SEO Made Simple with Your Local St. Louis Web Development Agency

In the world of search engine optimization (SEO), focus keywords are incredibly important for driving traffic to your website and making sure that your content is reaching the right audience. Choosing the right focus words can make a significant difference in how well your page ranks on search engines. In turn, this means winning or losing potential web leads.

What Are Focus Keywords?

Focus keywords are specific terms or phrases that best represent the content of a specific page on your website. They’re words/phrases that you want to rank for in search engine results. The right keywords help search engines like Google understand the topic of your content, making it easier for potential visitors to find your page when they search for related information. The more relevant and helpful your content is, the more likely it is that your site will show up on the first page of search engines when people are looking for answers.

Steps to Choose Keywords

1. Identify Your Target Audience

Before you start looking for keywords, you have to know who your audience is. You’ve got to understand their needs, interests, and pain points in order to develop relevant content geared towards them. What questions are they asking? What problems are they trying to solve? By understanding the needs and wants of your audience, you can choose keywords that are relevant to them.

2. Brainstorm Potential Keywords

Begin by brainstorming a list of potential keywords. Use tools like WordStream or SEMrush to generate ideas. Analyze competitor websites to see which focus keywords they’re targeting and ranking for. Make a list of words or phrases that seem relevant to your content and audience.

3. Evaluate Keyword Relevance

Make sure that the keywords you’ve listed align with your content and target audience. A keyword might have high search volume, but if it doesn’t relate to what your content is about, it won’t matter. Choose keywords that directly correlate to the topic you’re covering. Remember, search engines bump up pages that have helpful, relevant content.

4. Analyze Keyword Volume and Competition

Use keyword research tools like SEMrush to check the search volume and competition for each potential keyword. Look for words with a high search volume but lower competition. You’re more likely to rank for these words.

5. Consider Long-Tail Focus Keywords

Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific keyword phrases. While they probably have lower search volumes, they often have less competition and can attract a more targeted audience. For example, instead of targeting “boots,” you might target “best work boots for men.”

6. Test and Refine

After selecting your focus keywords, add them to your content and monitor their performance. Use tools like Google Analytics to track how well your page is ranking for your chosen focus keywords. Based on the results, you can go in and refine your keyword strategy.

Best Practices for Focus Keywords

• Audit your website and see which pages need focus keywords.
• Integrate your focus keywords naturally into your content. Don’t overstuff your keyword! That will actually have the opposite effect and harm your SEO.
• Use focus keywords in your page title, headers, meta description, and URL. This helps search engines understand your content and what you’re focusing.
• Create high-quality, valuable content that addresses the needs and interests of your audience. Don’t create content just to rank – create content to help.

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Choosing the right focus keywords is a huge step in optimizing your website for search engines. You need to understand your audience, what they need, and find the right words to attract the right audience. This can be a confusing and long-winded practice but you’ve got this! Remember, you can always ask for help from a local digital marketing and web development company like Beanstalk Web Solutions. Let’s grow your business and reach your goals together!

The post How to Choose Focus Keywords for Your Content appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

We know that content is king. Posting on social media and social media marketing is so important! But starting your journey on social media as a business can be overwhelming. You probably have a lot of questions like “just how often I should post content on social media?” or “what are the best times to post on social media?”

At Beanstalk, your local social media marketing firm, we’ve got you covered. We can answer your questions and get you started on your journey!

Understanding Your Audience

Before setting a posting schedule or choosing your content, it’s important to understand your audience’s preferences and online habits. Where are your target customers hanging out online? Different platforms have different peak times, and your target demographic might engage more during specific times of the day or week. Take advantage of the analytics features of social media platforms to provide insights into when your audience is most active, helping you schedule posts for optimal engagement.

Blog Content Updates

Blog posts are great for both social media marketing and SEO (search engine optimization)! Frequency of blog posts as well as content type can depend heavily on your industry and available resources:

• News-heavy industries: If your industry is something involved heavily current events, post several times a week to keep content fresh and relevant.
• Evergreen content: Posting once a week or bi-weekly can be effective if your industry isn’t news-heavy. Maintain a consistent schedule that your audience can rely on and make sure your posts are relevant and informative.

Quality trumps quantity. Each blog post should provide value, solutions, or entertainment. Don’t stuff a post full of key words and fluff content just so you have something to post. Find out what questions your audience is asking and answer them!

Social Media Posting

Social media platforms vary widely in terms of dynamics and audience preferences:

• X (Twitter): High frequency is acceptable; consider several posts per day.
• Facebook: Posting once a day or every other day is generally sufficient. 3 times a week is a perfectly acceptable amount.
• Instagram: Daily stories are recommended, with regular posts 3 times per week.
• LinkedIn: One or two posts per week are ideal for maintaining professional engagement. Also, don’t forget to engage with your feed and others in your industry! Leaving likes, comments, and ideas under other professionals posts as your brand can drive engagement and build trust.
• Consistency is Key: Keep your social media posting schedule fairly consistent. Also, try and use the same content across your platforms, reformatted and reimagined for the different audiences.

Best Times to Post on Social Media

• X (Twitter): Best to post during early morning or late at night, coinciding with commutes.
• Facebook: For Facebook, mid-morning and mid-afternoon during weekdays is ideal.
• Instagram: Late morning and evening on weekdays is the best for Instagram.
• LinkedIn: Early mornings, lunchtime, and late afternoons on weekdays are best for professional audiences.

What Type of Content to Post

• Inspirational and Educational: Content that teaches or inspires tends to perform well across platforms. Remember, answer the questions that your audience is asking!
• Interactive Content: Polls, questions, or contests can increase engagement. Engagement in turn increases awareness and brand recognition.
• Visual Content: High-quality images and videos are important, especially on visually oriented platforms like Instagram. Try free tools like Canva to create engaging and professional looking content.
• Timely Content: Posts that relate to current events or trends can capture more immediate interest and engagement.
• Check Out the Competition: Make sure to follow competitors and other brands in your field. Seeing what content the competition is posting can be great inspiration and can help you generate ideas for your posts.

Automation and Planning

Using social media scheduling tools like Meta Business Suite, Hootsuite, or Later allows you to plan and automate the delivery of content across platforms. This can ensure a consistent social media presence and free up your time to engage directly with followers, plan future posts, and reach your business goals!

Engage and Analyze

After setting up your posting schedule, actively engage with your audience and monitor the performance of your posts. Engagement metrics and feedback will help you better understand what your audience best reacts to, helping you plan better for future social posts.

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Social media marketing is a wild beast. There’s not one formula that fits best for every company and you might have to fail forward a couple of times before realizing what works best. But practice makes perfect!

If social media ads management and organic social posting doesn’t seem like something you have an interest in handling, there are always social media marketing firms like Beanstalk that can help out.

More questions regarding social media management? Let’s chat! Keep it simple and let’s grow your business.

The post How Often Should I Post Content on Social Media? appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

Understanding Your Audience

The foundation of relevance lies in understanding your audience inside and out. Take the time to conduct research and truly understand what your audience wants. What are the demographics of your audience? What are their pain points? Do you know what their goals are? By answering these questions, you can tailor your content to resonate deeply with your target audience.

Conducting Keyword Research

Keywords are an essential part of digital marketing. Conducting keyword research allows you to understand what topics and phrases your audience is searching for online. Different digital tools can help you identify high-volume, low-competition keywords relevant to your industry. You can use these relevant keywords strategically into your content to improve its search engine visibility and attract organic traffic. Keyword research may seem like a daunting task, which is why it’s sometimes in a businesses best interest to hire a digital marketing firm who can easily conduct a successful keyword research.

Creating Valuable Digital Marketing Content

Relevance goes hand in hand with value. Your content should aim to educate, entertain, or inspire your audience in some way. Provide practical tips, insightful analysis, or tell a story that speaks directly to an audience Whether it’s a blog post, video, or social media post, make sure every piece of content you create is something that can appeal to your user.

Personalization and Segmentation

One-size-fits-all content is a thing of the past. Personalization is the key to relevance in digital marketing. Leverage data and analytics to segment your audience based on factors like demographics, behavior, and past interactions. Then, tailor digital marketing content to speak directly to each segment’s unique needs and preferences. This can be done through a series of email campaigns, personalized product recommendations, or targeted social media ads. Personalized content is more likely to resonate with your audience, drive meaningful engagement, and create repeat customers.

Stay Current

Relevance is also about staying current and tapping into the latest trends and conversations. Keep a close eye on industry news, pop culture, and social media trends. By being responsive, you can create content that feels timely, capturing the attention of your audience when it matters most.

Test, Analyze, and Iterate

Finally, relevance is an ongoing process that requires constant testing, analysis, and iteration. Monitor the performance of your content using metrics like engagement, click-through rates, and conversions. Identify what’s working well and what’s falling flat, then use that insight to refine your approach moving forward. Experiment with different formats, topics, and messaging to see what resonates best with your audience. By staying adaptive, you can ensure that your content remains relevant and effective in digital marketing.

Digital marketing as a whole can be an intimidating beast. If you ever need somewhere to start, a professional digital marketing company like Beanstalk Web Solutions could be a great first step in crafting your digital marketing footprint. Remember, you have to know your audience, know your business, and stay ahead of the curve in order to push past the news and make your company a frontrunner in digital marketing.

Keep it simple. Grow your business.

The post How to Create Relevant Content for Digital Marketing appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.

We’re looking at the top 9 types of digital marketing and telling you how to use them. Some of these types will overlap, but since a good digital marketing strategy incorporates more than one, overlap will work in your favor.

9 Common Types of Digital Marketing:

1. Content Marketing
2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
3. Display Advertising
4. Mobile Marketing
5. Social Media Marketing
6. Email Marketing
7. Video Marketing
8. Audio Marketing
9. Influencer Marketing

So, let’s get into the top 9 types of digital marketing and how to use them!

1. Content Marketing 

Content marketing is based around just that — content! This includes text, images, multimedia, etc., which provides value to your target audience. This can take the form of social media posts, blog posts (like this one), videos, webinars, case studies, and more. These are what we consider inbound marketing tactics and are beautiful because they are free. The goal is to draw customers in and provide them with valuable content. You can also utilize various pieces of content across different channels; you can chop up a video to use as a social media post or transcribe a webinar to use as a blog post. 

How to use content marketing in your digital marketing strategy:

Content is the most important thing behind your entire digital marketing strategy, so start with designing a content strategy. You’ll want to dive into your company goals and your target audience before deciding on a few formats that make sense for both. If you struggle with video, stick to blog posts, and if you’re a very visually creative person, start creating some graphics! You’ll now want to decide where you’re going to post that content, be it your website, social media, other relevant sites, etc. 

2. Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing (or SEM) is all about playing Google’s game to get your site to appear at the top of a search engine results page (SERP). Unlike search engine optimization (SEO), SEM includes both organic search (SEO) and paid search (PPC) on both desktop and mobile. SEO is exactly what it says it is, optimizing your website, or your content, for search engines. The best part about SEO is that it’s free and can improve brand authenticity, but it isn’t the quick strategy that a paid search campaign can be. PPC is similar to SEO in the sense that you’re trying to appear at the top of a SERP, but this includes buying your way to the top rather than working hard to get there. The beauty of PPC is that you can show up ahead of your longer-tenured competitors, and you only pay when someone clicks your ad. 

How to use search engine marketing in your digital marketing strategy:

SEO

While we will split SEO and PPC up for this section, both begin with keyword research. Research the relevant keywords to your industry and utilize Neil Patel’s keyword tool, or our favorite, SEMrush, to identify keywords with the most organic opportunity. Specifically, search for relevant keywords with low keyword difficulty, high monthly search volume, and commercial intent. You’ll then want to create a content calendar including the focus keywords and any longer tail keywords that might be more difficult to rank for, but you still wish to sprinkle in your content. Then it’s simple — write! Okay, maybe it’s not that simple, but you have to start somewhere. Some best practices for writing content for SEO are to write between 1,500-2,500 words, contain two internal and two external links, a graphic (don’t forget an image alt tag), and most importantly, a 2-3% keyword density. For example, in a 2,000-word blog post, your focus keyword should appear 40-60 times. 

PPC

You can utilize the same tools listed in the SEO section (our favorite is SEMrush) but you will now want to look at the monthly search volume and CPC columns rather than the organic-focused columns. Once you have determined the keywords you want to run paid ads for, you will set up your google ads account, write your headlines and descriptions, insert your UTM code (track your data!) and turn them on. But wait — what about a budget? A best practice is to calculate your budget by averaging the CPC of the keywords you’ve selected; let’s say that’s $5/click. You’ll then multiply that by 100 clicks because, at a minimum, you need 100 clicks to make a data-driven decision on the success of your ads campaign. 

3. Display Advertising

Display advertising has many similarities to the old-school traditional marketing techniques such as print ads, magazines, billboards, etc., but they’re just online! While people used to drive down the highway or flip through the telephone book and see ads along the way, now people are buzzing along the internet highway and seeing ads everywhere, sometimes without even noticing! Over the years, this has become more sophisticated in how your ads are shown to specific individuals and not others and how retargeting works to follow users around the internet. The beauty of display ads is that you can target certain sites, retarget landing pages, and easily track them along the way. They’re also super effective, especially for e-commerce businesses!

How to use display advertising in your digital marketing strategy:

Like content marketing, you will need to develop the creatives rather than just text. While the text and calls to action are essential, make sure to create impactful, memorable creatives. Once you have your creatives, decide on your placement. Google’s Display Network and Facebook Business Manager are two of the biggest that allow you to target specific individuals geographically, by age, interest, etc. 

4. Mobile Marketing 

With mobile marketing, there is tons of overlap with all other types because you will see every other type of digital marketing on mobile devices. However, it also involves making sure your digital marketing strategy is optimized for both desktop and mobile devices. 

Mobile-specific digital marketing tactics exist, such as app advertising, text marketing, and social media app advertising. If your target audience is of a younger demographic, this is vital! The beauty is apparent as soon as you look up from your phone and notice that everyone else is on theirs! People spend more time on their phones in 2022 than ever before, which won’t slow down anytime soon. Geofencing, a tactic we love here at Beanstalk, is another mobile marketing tactic that allows you to draw a geofence around locations during certain times and specifically serve ads to only those mobile IDs.

How to use mobile marketing in your digital marketing strategy:

Making sure your website and all of your content is mobile-friendly is the absolute minimum here. Whether your site was built in Wix or WordPress, your site can be easily optimized for mobile. Once your site is mobile-friendly, begin to look into app advertising, text message marketing, geofencing, etc.

5. Social Media Marketing

Odds are you’ve seen some social media marketing on Facebook, Instagram, YoutTube, LinkedIn…you get the point; there are tons of social media platforms. Similar to SEM, social media marketing includes both organic and paid marketing. The organic side of things includes:

• Posting on your businesses page.
• Joining Facebook groups.
• Posting stories.
• Utilizing messenger to connect with your target audience.

As far as the paid side goes, this is very similar to PPC, but you can decide on your pricing model between cost per mile, cost per click, cost per view, or cost per engagement. Whether or not your business has the budget to run social media ads, every business should be active on at least two social platforms. Figure out where your target audience is, and be there! Don’t spread yourself too thin; instead, focus on the most important channels. The beauty here is that if you go viral on social, your efforts will be multiplied tenfold by your community as people like, share, and comment. Facebook ads allow you to target by specific interests, job title, and much more, making them very useful!

How to use social media marketing in your digital marketing strategy:

As stated above, figure out where your target audience is and be there! Once you’ve selected the 2 or 3 platforms you want to be active on, decide what kind of messaging you want to use that aligns with your brand. Then, begin creating the content! Try and change the format and implement stories, polls, and other tools to increase engagement with your community. Your social media goal should be to build a community, and getting them involved can help do just that. 

6. Email Marketing

While email marketing might seem like an old-school tactic, this is still one of the most effective digital marketing tools. You can utilize newsletters or drip campaigns to nurture existing clients and prospects. Marketing automation, or drip campaigns, has come a long way over the last few years. You can set intricate triggers and workflows that serve emails as the user reaches different steps in the automation. The beauty here is that after years and years of collecting emails via newsletter and contact forms, you amass a list where you can regularly stay in contact with thousands of people with the click of a button. That little touchpoint in their inbox can re-introduce them right back into your sales cycle!

How to use email marketing in your digital marketing strategy:

If you haven’t got an email list, your first step is to get a newsletter sign-up and contact form on your website. If you have an email list, utilize email software such as Mailchimp, Constant Contact, etc., to send weekly newsletters. Don’t just send emails to send emails; make sure they’re valuable to your email list. Coupons work well for e-commerce businesses, and tips and such work well for B2B. 

Do make sure you’re following all the rules, though, before you jump into the email marketing game. Depending on how long you’ve been gathering emails for your list, the regulations might have changed. Now, users must opt-in to a newsletter. 

7. Video Marketing

Video has come a long way and has taken over digital marketing. The beauty of video marketing is that it can be anything from short clips to longer format webinars and any length in between. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn push video quite heavily, so you’ll get more reach and impressions with video than with a traditional graphic. TikTok is a platform that started with 7-second video clips similar to Vine but now has increased to 1 and 2 minutes. 

How to use video marketing in your digital marketing strategy:

Video should be in your digital marketing strategy in 2022, no debate. What kind of video is up to you, but there is no question whether you should do it or not. Determine whether an inspirational, educational, or entertaining video makes sense for your business’ image. You don’t have to spend tons of time or money on recording equipment; there are teenagers making millions of dollars each year using an iPhone camera. 

8. Audio Marketing

While video killed the radio star, the truth is radio has just changed. You can listen to the radio on the internet, and with that, traditional radio advertising has changed to Spotify ads, podcast ads, and even smart home assistant advertising. 

The beauty is that you don’t have to be a podcaster or create a podcast to take advantage of audio marketing. You can advertise on a podcast show that speaks to your target audience. Like video marketing, very successful individuals record entire podcasts or record whole EPs on iPhones. If you do wish to get into podcasting, Anchor.fm is a platform for you to record, edit, and publish your podcast to all platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) from one app. 

How to use audio marketing in your digital marketing strategy:

Figure out what it is you want to do here. Is your audience listening to the radio online or in the car? Are they listening to podcasts, and which ones? Do they want you to start a podcast? The answers to these questions, and tons of others, will drive what you do with audio marketing. Determine where your audience is spending time and be there —- I know this is a theme you’ve heard us say before, but it’s the best way to initiate a digital marketing strategy in 2022. If starting a podcast isn’t for you, contact podcast shows that your audience is listening to and ask to be a guest or advertise with them!

9. Influencer Marketing 

Influencer marketing is what it sounds like, and this is a serious digital marketing strategy that you should consider. Remember those millionaires I told you about on TikTok? They can sell product! Not every influencer has to be Will Smith or Justin Bieber. There are tons of more niche influencers, some of whom communicate directly to your target audience. Smartfluence and influencer are some platforms that allow you to get in touch with influencers of all sizes, with all different types of audiences. 

The idea behind influencer marketing is that after getting the cosign from the influencer, the audience goes and buys your product, calls you, downloads your app, etc. The beauty is that you’re essentially piggybacking off of the years and years that influencer has taken to build a beautifully curated audience, and you instantly get the brand authenticity. 

How to use influencer marketing in your digital marketing strategy:

Determine whether influencer marketing makes sense for your brand. This is the newest of the top 9 types of digital marketing in 2022 list, so keep an open mind and do your research, but it’s not for every business. If you are interested in influencer marketing, determine your goals for your campaign and utilize one of the above platforms to connect with influencers who have the right audience and are a good match for your brand. 

Remember, don’t just focus on their audience size, but instead look at engagement rates. If they’re talking to your audience and get a 70% engagement rate on every post or video, it doesn’t matter whether they have 100 followers or 10 million, and pricing will be MUCH higher for the latter. Lastly, contact them and negotiate the campaign! 

Let’s Wrap Up

Digital marketing CAN be an overwhelming idea, but hopefully, with this list of the top 9 types of digital marketing, we’ve helped you develop a digital marketing strategy. 

The order of our list is the order that we would examine when looking to create a digital marketing strategy. Content marketing, SEM, display advertising, mobile, and social marketing round out our top five, and if you’re limited on time, we would tell you to only look at the top two and run with them. You can always add various other digital marketing types to your strategy as you see what works for your business. This is nothing against email, video, audio, and influencer marketing, but they’re time-consuming, newer, and more work. 

The beauty of this list is that you can’t go wrong, and many digital marketing types overlap, making it easier to develop a more well-rounded digital marketing strategy for your business.

Want some help developing your digital marketing strategy? Get in touch with Beanstalk and let’s grow your business together!

The post Top 9 Types of Digital Marketing — and How to Use Them appeared first on Beanstalk Web Solutions.